Maureen Dowd on the Republican Mean Girls

[highplainsdem]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/opinion/17dowd.html

Playing All the Angles
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: October 16, 2010


-snip-

We are in the era of Republican Mean Girls, grown-up versions of those teenage tormentors who would steal your boyfriend, spray-paint your locker and, just for good measure, spread rumors that you were pregnant.

These women — Jan, Meg, Carly, Sharron, Linda, Michele, Queen Bee Sarah and sweet wannabe Christine — have co-opted and ratcheted up the disgust with the status quo that originally buoyed Barack Obama. Whether they’re mistreating the help or belittling the president’s manhood, making snide comments about a rival’s hair or ripping an opponent for spending money on a men’s fashion show, the Mean Girls have replaced Hope with Spite and Cool with Cold. They are the ideal nihilistic cheerleaders for an angry electorate.

-snip-

“Man up, Harry Reid,” Sharron Angle taunted him at their Las Vegas debate here Thursday night. That’s not an idle insult, coming from a woman who campaigns at times with a .44 Magnum revolver in her 1989 GMC pickup.

With casino red suit and lipstick, Angle played the Red Queen of the Mad Hatter tea party, denouncing career politicians and ordering “Off with your head!” and “Down with government benefits!” Even sober and smiling beneath her girlish bangs, the 61-year-old Angle had the slightly threatening air of the inebriated lady in a country club bar, tossing off outrageous statements and daring anyone to call her on them.

-snip-

[TexasObserver]

1. recommend

[gratuitous]

2. And who better to know the mean girls than MoDo?

You're encroaching on her territory, girls. Watch yourselves.

[JamesA1102]

14. Exactly!!!

Reading her column is like reading a spoiled teenager's slam book.

[travelingtypist]

40. +1

Nobody does snark and mean and snide better than MoDo.

[tishaLA]

3. MoDo must be feeling very Margo Channing right now.

[BuelahWitch]

4. Actually I think Sister Sarah has the Margo Channing part

with Christine as Eve. MoDo would be more suited for Karen, the part Celeste Holm played. What I wanna know is who is playing Addison DeWitt?

PS. Bette Davis could kick the shit out of any of them...

[mitchum]

15. Chris Matthews as DeWitt (breathless, fussy, and silly)

[Warpy]

5. That's the most perfect description of Angle I've ever read

When MoDo is on, she's really on.

[Scurrilous]

6. K & R

:thumbsup:

[democracy1st]

7. K & R for later

[lillypaddle]

8. WHEN she gets it right

she gets it right.

[whyverne]

9. Way back when I first started to support more women in politics,

I think I was leaning more towards "Bette Midler for President". Now I'm starting to wonder.

[Alameda]

10. absolutely correct, remember Fiorina about Boxer's hair?

Ugh....I hate mean girls. A bunch of them harassed and terrorized my nieces.

[krabigirl]

11. No wonder i cant stand them. Reminds me of high school.

Those same types of idiots..took a fight to finally get them to leave me alone. I don't want those types in power. They need to go away.

[seabeyond]

12. excellent. lets hear more of this. gotta stop it in its tracks. not good for all women.

cant be allowed.

[wisteria]

38. I agree, mean girls shouldn't be allowed to get ahead or gain anything for being mean. n/t

[Beaverhausen]

13. I thought of the "Mean Girls" thing everytime O'Donnell condescendingly laughed during her debate

She did it to Coons and to the moderators.

[Orsino]

16. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that MoDo can't trivialize just by breathing on it.

Someday, she's going to have an original thought, and that will be news worthy of printing. Until then, she's a waste of inches.

[Skittles]

22. I agree

I cannot stand her, even when she's right - the fluffy, breathless way she writes....well....:puke:

[IDemo]

17. A local columnist captured the personality type here ->

http://www.boiseweekly.com/boise/palin-mania/Content?oid=1363390

[bleever]

18. That's a great piece.

You might consider making it an OP.

:thumbsup:

[SpiralHawk]

20. "most of us know she (Palin) is to politics, what Chef Boyardee is to fine dining"

LOL perfect...

[laughingliberal]

23. Perfect! nt

[handmade34]

27. very well said

Sarah Palin is "...this season's Tickle-Me-Elmo..."

[handmade34]

28. I went back and

and checked out his (Bill Cope's) other writings... he's a keeper!

""Truth is, conservatives, either then or now, are never on the liberating edge of anything. They, then and now, are followers, not leaders, and have always been at the butt-end of a historical narrative they can't comprehend""

[IDemo]

30. He's a local treasure

His and Ted Rall's columns are the only reason I keep grabbing the Boise Weekly off the rack.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

32. I had a look at the comments....conservative windbags.

particularly one, PatienceDogood..... WOW, what an angry intellectual elitist, but so clueless--totally immersed in the reversed image of the world that the reich wing embraces. Those are some impressive insult skillZ he's got, but I don't see him backing up any of his statements (though he accuses liberals of that same sin).

I just had to remark on the guy--I'm a werd nerd and I admit I enjoy circumlocution at times ( :P ) but THAT guy......Phew, what a windbag!

[earcandle]

35. Oh! We have a song called "windbags". Is this like what you mean?

Windbags

[BlancheSplanchnik]

42. Heeeyyy, that was pretty damn good!

:7

good stuff!!!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

31. loved it! Funny AND astute

!


yeah, post this as an OP! It's too good to miss!

:thumbsup:

[lunatica]

19. It takes one to know one says me

Maureen Dowd has a scorpion tale for a tongue

[girl gone mad]

21. I was just going to say the same thing.

Mo Dowd knows from "mean girl". Her attacks on Al Gore spring to mind.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

24. She must be a Depeche Mode fan. Her title sounds like their latest album...

"Playing the Angel".

At any rate, I can't stand MoDo, but she's on point here...

[madinmaryland]

25. Shut the fuck up, MoDo. YOU perfected that smear tactic ten years ago

which led to the election of GWB.

All of her "manning up" comments about Al Gore. What a fucking waste of bandwidth and paper for those giving MoDo any creedance.

:grr:

[JamesA1102]

39. Well said nt

[AndrewP]

43. +1

[Stinky The Clown]

26. You go, Mo.

[City Lights]

29. It's not just republican girls. republican boys are mean, too.

Having a mean streak is a prerequisite for republicanism.

[deaniac21]

33. Maureen's column reads like something from high school.

[earcandle]

34. Well said!

[hatrack]

36. Wow, is she still alive?

:puke:

[wisteria]

37. I thought Angle looked as though she had a few drinks before the debate.

The thought crossed my mind several times during the debate and especially when she had to stop and think for a minute about what was going to come out of her mouth.

[Bette Noir]

41. Thanks for the link. I printed the column out for my husband.

[Swamp Rat]

44. Hillbilly Harpies

:D